intelligence

From Old French intelligence, from Latin intelligentia.

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɛl.ɪ.d͡ʒəns/

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intelligence (countable and uncountable, plural intelligences)

1. (chiefly uncountable) Capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to comprehend and learn.
   • 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5

     Not so, however, with Tarzan, the man-child. His life amidst the dangers of the jungle had taught him to meet emergencies with self-confidence, and his higher intelligence resulted in a quickness of mental action far beyond the powers of the apes.

   • 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:

     Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.

2. (countable) An entity that has such capacities.
   • Tennyson

     The great Intelligences fair / That range above our mortal state, / In circle round the blessed gate, / Received and gave him welcome there.

3. (chiefly uncountable) Information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
4. (countable) A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
5. (dated) Acquaintance; intercourse; familiarity.
   • Clarendon

     He lived rather in a fair intelligence than any friendship with the favourite

• (capacity of mind): wit, intellect, brightness
• (entity): see Thesaurus:sentient
• See also Thesaurus:intelligence

Borrowed from Latin intelligentia (“the act of choosing between, intelligence”), from intellegō (“understand”), from inter (“between”) + legō (“choose, pick out, read”).

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɛ.li.ʒɑ̃s/, /ɛ̃.te.li.ʒɑ̃s/

• audio

  (file)

intelligence f (plural intelligences)

1. intelligence; cleverness
2. comprehension

• “intelligence” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Borrowed from English intelligence.

intelligence f (invariable)

1. A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information.

intelligence f (plural intelligences)

1. intelligence
2. comprehension
   • 1595, Michel de Montaigne, Essais, book II, chapter 10:

     Je souhaiterois avoir plus parfaicte comprehension des choses, mais je ne la veux pas achepter si cher qu’elle couste.

     I would like to have a more perfect knowledge of everything, but I don't want to buy it for how much it costs

intelligence f (oblique plural intelligences, nominative singular intelligence, nominative plural intelligences)

1. comprehension
2. meaning
3. ability to comprehend

• English: intelligence (borrowed)
• French: intelligence

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (intelligence, supplement)